Pre-Hardmode goals?

[zybourne]

I'm trying to get into Terraria since it's their last update but my sense of direction for this game has always been terrible.
I'm worried I'll waste resources crafting bad gear.

What should I craft and what should I buy to get situated for the boss fights and exploring?
Craft a full set of gold/platinum tools? Do I need a magic staff? Is the shark minigun worth it? Should I get all NPC's? What should I craft first with Crimtane/Demonite?

I'm also sort of blocked in by my crimson/corruption biome. Should I just build over it?

[-DweebWMS-]

craft cactus armor and go mining for ores and look for hearts, after you get full hearts you should probably have enough ores to make a platinum or gold pickaxe, since your in a corruption world make an arena and farm eater of souls for some free shadow armor, make apartment shoeboxes for npc's to live in, thats ussually what i do pre EoC and it ussually works. if you dont want to waste materials for crafting tools, i would recommend making a lead rod and fish in the sea for the chainsaw fish which is a pretty neat axe tool, the reaver shark and the sword fish, although this is pretty time consuming and would require some luck and quite a lot of bait so if this is the route you would wanna take, try crafting coral torshes and place them in water for extra luck and also try getting a lawn gnome for extra luck. sorry if my grammar is a bit off im kinda sick and just woke up so i cant properly make sentences at the moment, hope this helps.

[Mikado]

Originally posted by Mikado:

It highly depends on the world difficulty tho, but I can give a few advices for general. In pre hardmode, dont waste your time with progressing like copper->iron->tungsten->gold. Go straight for silver-tungsten armor set, and gold-platinum bow. You can also upgrade your pickaxe from copper to something up to silver/tungsten first. If you think that you can find some demonite or crimtane, you can mine them using bombs and craft demonite/crimtane bow instead. It will give you a much higher advantage in early game. Buff-heal-mana(if you are a mage) potions and buff meals and arenas are must have for boss fights. Dont forget to make an arena with campfires and multiple platform layers. Also add heart lanterns and sunflowers for regeneration and movement speed buff. Also you can use frostburn arrows, they are one of the best ammunation for pre hardmode bows, after hellfire arrows. Not that hard to get too. Magic staffs are good, but they are best with a mage class focused set, so dont waste your time to grind or drop a staff unless you want to play as a mage. NPC's are not necessary but you can make an arena and put nurse in a room close to it, to heal yourself in the fight. Minishark is good, but consumes so much ammo and have less damage, thus it eats up your money. And overall useless in pre hardmode. But you can upgrade it to megashark in hardmode. That one is sick. You can build a straight platform parallel to the corruption surface, to get past it easily and also you can use it in the upcoming boss fight with eater of worlds.

I suggest having a good look in the game wiki, it is so fun to look at and help you so much.

[Mikado]

Also dont forget to raise your max health to the 400 cap before getting into any boss fight. Or leave it at 180 bcause if you get past 200 goblin army will raid you, but they are not that of a deal if its not master mode-for the worthy.

[prpl_mage]

I'm worried I'll waste resources crafting bad gear.

Don't be, there's plenty to go around except maybe Paladin Shiedls and Broken Hero Swords.

What should I craft and what should I buy to get situated for the boss fights and exploring?Craft a full set of gold/platinum tools? Do I need a magic staff?

The gold/platinum set is the fastes way to get good defense, but that's also all it does. Some people prefer the Jungle set for its magic bonus or bone set for ranged. If you want to get lots of damage look at the options.
You don't need a magic staff unless you have increased your max mana and really like that play style. This early in the game anything goes! I personally use the weapons found in chests, the underground desert for example has some good weapons, Finch Staff from Living Wood chests if you're lucky.

Is the shark minigun worth it?

Yes, it fires real fast, so if you have access to bullets (silver/tungsten) then go for it. But you're gonna run out of bullets fast. You can later upgrade it in hardmode to make it more reliable.

Should I get all NPC's?

If you plan to build npc towns for the pylons I would say yes, if you don't then just take the ones you need now. Stylist can be gotten early but she's not very useful for example.

What should I craft first with Crimtane/Demonite?

Always prioritize Pickaxes, then weapons. Unless you have a better weapon and only looking for the armor set bonuses.

I'm also sort of blocked in by my crimson/corruption biome. Should I just build over it?

Build over it to get past it, or blast your way through it. Your choice.

Good luck!

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